Customer Reviews

Black Juice

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is Lanagan's first collection published in the US (she has a # of other titles available in Australia) and it is a cracker! I almost recommend reading the first story last: it is so good and odd and different that you might have to take a break after reading before you read the rest. And you won't want to take that break, because this is one of the best collections you will read this year.

Recommended for smart readers of any age.

A Bit Unusual. This is a rather interesting fantasy collection but it is not for everybody. These ten tales are dark but they are not horror. Some seem to be in our world while others are in worlds twisted and strange. The very first story where a family participates in an act of justice against one of their own should warn the reader of what is to follow.

While there are some elements of the fantastic in some of the stories, they are not the focus of these tales. These are not stories of dragons, wizards and fairies, although some may appear. Instead they are tales of the heart and the mind. They take us deep inside the characters in tales where thoughts and not actions are the focus. A fine collection all around.

If you enjoy the introspective tale then this collection is for you. If you are looking for dragon slaying and spell casting, then you might want to check out something different.

Read this collection. The stories are strange and different, the language is wonderful, the characters heartbreakingly real. This book is not particularly for teens -- these stories are sophisticated and some are quite dark. But more than that, these stories are full of that elusive "sense of wonder" that so many SF and fantasy readers are looking for. Look no further -- it's all here.

Based on the jacket description, I thought this would be a book of short stories delving into different aspects of the human soul and psyche, both dark and light. That is not what I found and certainly not how I would sell this book. While I was impressed with the first story, and the level to which the author managed to draw the reader into the characters in a few short pages, it was the only one that I thought was worth reading. The rest were, for the most part, simplistic, unoriginal, woe-is-me pity the poor people drivel. While some of the stories, such as "Red Nose Day," may have benefited from more in-depth development and background information, most of the stories were simply lacking in every sense of the word, I didn't care about the characters, I was mostly bored by the plots, and I wasn't intrigued by the "worlds" the author created. As for this book being an exploration of the darker side of the human spirit, tame is the only word I can use to describe it. Perhaps I have more experience with dark literature than the average reader, but I would say light gray is about as dark as this book gets. For readers who are interested in exploring the range of the human psyche, from its best to its worst, I would recommend the Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop and the Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey. Bottom Line: If you are looking to be intellectually stimulated or even truly entertained, look elsewhere. This collection will fall far short of your expectations.

Having been given a number of "warnings" about the intensity of Lanagan's most recent book, Tender Morsels, I decided to get a better sense of her writing through one of her short story collections first.

I wish someone had warned me about this collection as well.

Lanagan is an intense writer of dark, emotional, human fantasy worlds. There are echoes of older cultures and languages buried deep in these worlds, a sense not so much as coming from another planet but as if reading reports from undiscovered country. It is the type of fiction that reads like literary reportage from a past frontier transported through time. Like something forbidden, these stories are a black juice indeed.

The collection opens with "Singing Down My Sister," a strange description of a ritual that involves sending a woman out into the center of a lake of tar. Knowing Lanagan hails from Australia, and having grown up with the tar pits of LA, it wasn't too illogical a step for me to imagine a sort of hybrid Aboriginal culture that appeared to be redressing some sort of wrong through an old, odd cleansing process involving tar. But no, this is clearly something else as the event at hand is actually an execution, a slow death in front of an audience with a wake built in. Equally fascinating and disconcerting, the effect is how I would imagine it to be watching surgery being performed on myself while fully conscious.

Short story collections by their nature must start off strong and bold. They must open with a story full of promise for the rest of the collection yet not be so strong as to let the reader down along the way. Reading "Singing Down My Sister" it almost feels intimidating to continue with the rest of the book. If the rest of the book is anywhere near this intense it might be impossible to finish.

Fortunately, the book wasn't impossible to finish. Unfortunately the rest of the book was equally intense.

Each of the stories contained so completely build their worlds - unique and richly textured worlds at that - this it is possible for each story to sustain its own book. "Red Nose Day" delves into a dark world full of professional clowns and the hitmen who kill them, with more than a hint of allegory aimed at the Catholic church. "The House of Many" posits a clash of parallel worlds that fluidly includes a Middle Ages cult surrounded by a more contemporary society rich with cars and candy. Demonic angels that help children break free of oppressive adults. Queens who prefer the company of dancing gypsies to their own kingdoms. Lanagan plucks the familiar image and icon and from our consciousness and folds them deftly into something new, a magical literary origami.

I think the warning I would have wanted was more in the form of advice. I think these stories should be savored slowly, with a lot of space between them. Perhaps as ways of cleansing the palate between other books. One after another, the power in these stories makes reentry into the world difficult. Better to dip into these waters with some reserve.

Whether this has helped me to better enter the world of Tender Morsels has yet to be determined. As it stands, I feel richer for the diversion.

A dreamy affair, this book traverses the boundary between reality and the hyper-real with breathtaking skill. The storylines are often unimportant, taking a back seat to the prose, which flows and twists with great dexterity and poetry. This is a strongly visual book that would certainly appeal to readers of all ages. It would be of particular interest to those with a predilection towards fantasy. There is a strong thematic of family bonds throughout, and though no time period is mentioned, the nature of the writing and storytelling (strong family themes, the near absence of any technology) gives me the impression that most of the stories are set in the distant past, which only adds to the otherworldly qualities. I like the title as well because blackness is a strong image created throughout, almost like the book is an anthology of stories from the dark ages.

I have nothing but praise to offer for the range and depth of Margo Lanagan's creativity. Her worlds stretch beyond, her characters beneath, her eerie tone deeper than any collection of short stories I've ever read. These ten short stories, touted as young adult, might pass as such to some, but not to me. These tales are older than young adult, despite their characters' ages. The tone and voice of these stories is not distinctly young adult, but something more vast.

Community burial rituals, reeking wrestling angels, wandering hopeful brides, loyal escaping elephants, and other bizarre images litter this collection with a freshness that, when her worlds came to life, sang to my soul. Perhaps it was just this reader, but some of the stories lost me completely. Maybe I'm not as savvy a reader as I think myself to be, but I do expect myself to be able to understand what's happening in the story. There were a couple of the stories, I confess that I stuck through in hopes I would "get them" later on.

But those were the exception. I enjoyed her fresh use of language, her frequent linguistic inventions that worked, her bold exploration of words. The young adult world needs more short story collections like Margo Lanagan's, which was one of the 5 finalists for Best of Young Adult at the 2006 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. To be named among such authors as Per Nilsson, John Green, Markus Zusak, and Andreas Steinhofel is no small feat.

And neither are her stories.

-- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

Although I feel I have an edition with much nicer cover art (December 2004), if you have an appreciation for obscure, poetic literature and want something highly original and creative to read and be inspired by, I recommend Black Juice. Margo Lanagan is a writer unlike any other I have read. While a few reviewers have noted that her work is very dark, I want to say that it is also very tender. I also want to offer a differing view that Lanagan does indeed delve into dark and light aspects of the human soul or condition, and I feel she does it beautifully.

I purchased this book on whim while browsing a book store over five years ago and I'm so glad I did as it gave me a new appreciation for creativity. I only wish my borrowed copy was returned so I could read it again.

I had to purchase this book for a Young Adult Literature course. Initially I thought I wouldn't be able to enjoy it but once you get used to the thick dialect and the dark nature of the authors work it's really quite interesting. It is a compilation of short stories. They are not themed with each other at all but they all have a continuity of strange perspective, dark humor, very difficult dialect, and characterizations that resemble Edgar Allen Poe's works. If you wind up having to buy it, don't fear it.

I read a lot. I read a lot of YA fiction. This is the only book I've ever read that stopped me breathing. I'd heard this book was good, but it took me a year or two to read it. I was on holidays - maybe too relaxed - and lying on the floor of a beach house when I read Singing My Sister Down. It took many seconds for me to start breathing again - the air had just gone completely out of my lungs. I took the book to the Writing Class I was teaching and, even though it was not the topic for that week, I read that story. I had to share. Someone started crying and just couldn't stop. Lanagan is a masterful writer. She affects people. Not all writers can do that.